The Art of Creek Walking

A dry creek bed on an autumn day is just too good to resist.

Our family loaded up for a little After-Thanksgiving outing. Not to the mall, but the pasture. The more serious sportsmen in our group headed on down the road to the fishing hole to try their luck luring a bass, or if that didn’t pan out maybe they’d just waste some ammo shooting at stumps.

The rest of us took one look at the dry creek bed, unloaded out of the pick-up, and proceeded to do some creek walking.

Now if you are not an experienced creek walker you may need a little explanation. Creek walking is a special kind of walking. It’s not hiking. It’s not get-your-heart-rate up kind of walking. It’s not the kind of walking you do to get to school or the store. As a matter of fact the point isn’t to get you to any particular destination. And it may not even require walking at all.

After all, it is done in a dry creek bed, and beds are great places for napping.

But for those inclined to walk, it’s more about discovering than walking.

A look around shows the usually secret and hidden pattern of tree roots, now exposed and open to examination, thanks to the power of water’s force over time.

Slowing down long enough to look up rewards with a view of light playing in the treetops and leaves aflame with color.

But it’s the view at your feet that really gives creek walking its thrill.

So much to be discovered down here!

Scurrying and hurrying aren’t the name of the game. There are treasures to be found.

And what a find it was this day! The walk might not have burned many calories, but it did get our heart rate up a bit when we took a look at this discovery.

Creek walking always yields a good return of crinoid fossils, or ”pop rocks,” as we refer to them. But this find was unlike any we had ever seen in our neck of the woods.

This fossil discovery looks like the fossils we are familiar with, but oh so much larger!